What I Did On My Summer Vacation
by chuckdrich
Summary: What the first episode of Season 2 could have been.


What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Daytime in Dr. Murdoch's class. The students are busy chatting and catching up with their friends. Dr. Murdoch watches them with an affectionate smile.

Murdoch- Seeing as this is our first day back and I'm sure none of you is in a hurry to get your first homework assignment, let's devote today's class to getting reaquainted.

He notices a hispanic girl sitting silently in the back row. He shuffles through some papers on his desk.

Murdoch- Ms. Reyes? Please, introduce yourself.

The girl gets up nervously and stands in front of Murdoch's desk.

Linda- Hi. My name's Linda Reyes.

She blushes and looks down at her feet when everyone turns their attention to her.

Murdoch- What brought you here to Mansbridge, Linda?

Linda- I went to Wrenfield last year but one day I got mugged on my way home from volleyball practice. My dad freaked and moved us out of the city, insisted I go to private school.

Malcolm- You don't sound too happy about it.

Nick- Yeah, you'll fit in just fine around here.

Everyone laughed including Linda and you could see that she was feeling more comfortable.

Malcolm- Do you know who you'll be rooming with?

Linda- Yeah um... Mimi Sterling?

Mimi- It's Sperling. Hey.

Nick- Uh oh, hope you got good life insurance?

A few students laugh, most seem offended by the joke.

Linda- What's that supposed to mean?

Mimi- It's just that my last two roommates... they both... (She holds back tears.)

Malcolm- First there was Sherry, Mimi's best friend. she died of a burst appendix and over the summer her other roommate Dillan may have been murdered.

Linda- May have?

Malcolm- Well, she's missing. The police found her place wrecked and blood on the walls.

Mimi can hardly hold herself together as she hears all this.

Mimi- Nobody knows what happened to her.

Down in the cellar, Dillan is sleeping peacefully, in one of the coffins.

Murdoch in his office writing in his journal.

Murdoch(V.O.)- The first year of our grand experiment resulted in both successes and grave failures. It was more than necessary for us to have a short reprieve from it all. But now we return and begin anew.

Night, in the cellar. Murdoch and the vampires, including Dillan, are sitting around talking.

Essie- ...but of course Paris is always beautiful in the summer, especially when you have someone to enjoy it with. Then we went off to Rome but...

Murdoch- Stop right there Essie. Maybe we ought to move along and let you finish later. All in favor?

Everyone raises their hands high. Essie looks quite annoyed.

Merrill- Well, I didn't do anything nearly as exciting as all that. Just spent some time alone, at a little cottage up in the mountains. I got a lot of writing done.

Flashback  
Merrill is sitting at a desk in a small room, writing in a diary.

Merrill(V.O.)- Does he even see me, who I really am? Or does he just not care? I thought when she was gone, as sad as it was, it would mean he'd finally see me as something more than just a friend. Maybe I'm not even that to him. There were moments when I almost felt there were feelings there, but was I reading what was in his mind or was I just projecting my own desires?

Sad, she closes the book and walks toward the window. The sun is beginning to breach the horizon along the deep mountain valleys.

Merrill- Drew...

End Flashback

Drew- I spent some time with some old friends, the guys I used to hang out with before this experiment began.

Flashback

A high-pitched scream echoes through a dark alleyway.

Jordan- Run, run as fast as you can.

A teenage girl is running frantically, looking in every direction, scared out of her mind. Suddenly, someone jumps out at her from behind a dumpster. He grabs her arms and pins her to the ground.

Jordan- Hey, guys! Soup's on.

He vamps out and licks his lips.

Girl- Oh god! What are you? Please... please let me go.

Three other young men walk out from the shadows. While they're still in the darkness all the girl can see is their glowing red eyes approaching. When they stepped into the light, she could see their sharp fangs. Two of the guys had hungry, sinister looks on their faces just like the one holding her down but the last looked worried and a little frightened himself. It was Drew.

Drew- Alright guys. That's enough fun, I think we've scared her bad enough. Let's just let her go, okay?

Jordan- Let her go? Screw that, man. I'm hungry.

Drew- We don't have to hurt anybody to feed. We can just break into that hospital down the road. There's more blood there than all four of us can drink.

Jordan- Yeah, cold blood. But she (He licks the girl's soft neck.) She's nice and warm.

Drew- Think about it man. Nine pints split four ways. It'll barely be a sip. Let's hit the hospital and really pig out.

Jordan- Damn, Drew. What's happened to you since last year? You act like you're scared to make a kill. You're as bad as those idiots with the Convocation that think we should all live like humans.

Drew- I just don't see any reason to kill someone for a little taste of blood when we can get all we want without half the trouble.

Jordan- Then you can have the whole blood bank to yourself. We are gonna have a fresh meal.

When he starts to move towards the girls neck again Drew pulls him off her and throws him into a wall. The girl gets up and runs away. Before the other two vamps can follow her, Drew knocks them out cold. Jordan gets up and he and Drew begin to fight swinging bone crushing punches and lightning fast kicks. Thanks to their superhuman speed the fight is over in seconds. Drew is lying on the ground bloody and bruised.

Jordan- Wherever you've been for the last year, go back there. You're not welcome around here anymore.

End Flashback

Drew- I thought I wanted to go back to being who I was before this experiment, and Sherry. I guess I changed a lot more than I thought I did.

There's a heavy silence as everyone takes in what Drew has told them.

Marty- Man, what a downer!

Murdoch- Okay then, Marty what have you been up to?

Marty- Easy money and easier women.

Essie and Merrill- Ugh!

Marty- Three words...

Flashback  
Marty stepping off of a bus. Bright lights are flashing all around him.

Marty- Viva Las Vegas!

Inside a casino, Marty has a huge stack of chips in front of him on the Craps table, a Bloody Mary in one hand and a busty blonde on the other arm. He's having the time of his life.

Marty(V.O.)- I cleaned up! Made a killing!

He's at the roulette wheel with more chips, a bigger drink, and two girls.

Marty(V.o.)- Yep, I nearly owned that town. (Pause.) Right up until that last hand of blackjack. ... And that bad run at the Craps table.

Marty is sitting alone on a bus stop bench sobbing and chugging a bottle of cheap whiskey.

End Flashback

Dillan- Got anything left?

Marty- Just a few hickies and a whole lot of memories, baby. (He smiles triumphantly.)

Murdoch- Well, I guess we saved the best two for last. Karl, how was your time with the Convocation?

Karl- It was pretty rough at first. For a while there I hated everyone around me. Then I started hating myself. I thought I'd become a monster. Thought I didn't deserve to live and had nothing to live for.

Flashback  
Karl is huddled in the corner of a small room, empty except for a hard cot. A few packages of blood are sitting on the pillow, beginning to collect dust.

Elder- You must eat.

The elder holds one of the blood rations out to him. When Karl finally looks up, his face looks more like a zombie than a vampire. He takes the package and tosses it back onto the bed with the others. With a pitying expression on his face the Elder leaves.

Echoed whisper- I need you.

End Flashback

Karl- I was ready to end it all when I heard Dillan's beckoning.

Dillan- Guess that's my cue. Things were pretty weird for me this summer. I thought I was going crazy, seeing, hearing and smelling things that I shouldn't have been able to. And I suddenly went from being a vegetarian to craving nothing but the rarest red meat I could get my hands on. It wasn't until I went outside one morning and nearly burst into flame that I realized what I'd become. Of course, I had no idea how it happened since you'd erased my memory.

Essie- Sorry about that.

Murdoch- It's what we thought was best at the time. Unfortunately we overestimated Merrill's remedies, they'd only postponed your turning not prevented it.

Dillan- All along I felt like there was someone out there that could help me (She looks to Karl appreciatively) and I knew he'd come for me.

Karl- It wasn't easy sneaking away from the Elders but I knew if I told them she'd turned they'd just have her killed. Her beckoning led me to her and I found I had something to live for after all, to help her through this. I owed her that much at least. I still can't believe I managed to convince the Elders to not only let her live but accept her into the experiment.

Flashback  
Karl speaking to a group of elders.

Elder- She is a threat to the experiment and thus to our entire race.

Karl- You want us to learn to be human again. You are the one's who decided it was the only way for us all to evolve. We need to love and depend on one another. And above all else, learn to rise above our animal instincts. Well, I'm asking you to do just that. Rise above our need for survival and focus on something higher, compassion. Show the world that not only young vampires can learn to be human.

End Flashback

Dillan- He was amazing. For every reason they had to reject me, he had two reasons they should accept me.

Essie- First Drew now Dillan. You ever considered being a defense attorney, Karl?

Marty- Yeah, you'd make a great lawyer. You've already got the blood-  
sucking part down.

Everyone laughs.

Murdoch- I'm proud of all of you. This vacation was the ultimate test. You've proven that you can be set free into the mortal world and resist your urges to kill. I think the elders will still require some convincing before they allow you permanent freedom but you'll all be on a much longer leash this term.

Marty- You know what this means? P-A-R-T-Why? Cause we gotta.

Upstairs, Mimi and Linda are getting ready for bed.

Mimi- I hope we didn't scare you with all that talk about my other roommates.

Linda- No. I mean it's not like it's your fault. Sometimes bad things just happen to good people.

Mimi- Speaking of which, tell me about that mugging. It must've been pretty bad for your family to move and everything.

Linda- Yeah, the guy beat me up pretty bad. I was in the hospital for a few weeks, more stitches than I could count. Luckily I healed up pretty clean, I'd've hated to have a bunch of scars to remind me of it for the rest of my life.

Mimi- Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up.

Linda- No, it's okay. I want us to be close. We could both really use a good friend this year.

Tears in her eyes, Mimi gets up and hugs Linda.

Evening the next day, the day students are just winding down from their first real day of study as the night students are getting ready to begin theirs. Essie, Merrill, and Dillan are watching the rest of the school on the monitor.

Dillan- There's Heather Crane she was in my Chem class and... oh my god, is that the sweater I loaned her? I knew she never gave it back. I have half a mind to go up there right now and snatch it off her back.

Essie and Merrill laugh.

Essie- Still not enough cute guys in this stupid school. At this rate I'll end up dating Karl again.

Dillan- There's always Marty.

Essie throws a pillow at her.

Essie- Thanks to the wonders of black magic I've already had that experience and let me say: Never again!

Dillan- Then I guess that just leaves Drew. Of course, you'll have to wait 'til Merrill gets through with him.

Merrill- It's not like that. I mean, not yet anyways. He completely ignored me for almost a whole year and just because he showed a little interest at the end... I'm just thinking maybe it's too little, too late. I don't know, I'm just going to let things happen naturally.

Dillan- Well if you don't want him send him my way. Ever since I met him I felt kind of a...

Essie- Oh no. What's she doing here?

Essie's staring at someone on the monitor, a blonde girl coming into the school, wearing a tattered leather jacket.

Dillan- Who's she?

Merrill- Karl's sister. She came here last year hoping to contact his ghost.

Dillan- His ghost?

Merrill- It's a long story.

Essie- I thought we resolved this. We better not let Karl see her?

Karl- See who?

He's just walking into the room, drinking his blood ration. He sees Amy on the monitor and rushes over to sit up close.

Karl- She came back! She must still be hoping to connect with me. I want her to be able to move on but I have to admit I'm glad she's back, that she hasn't given up on me. She must love me more than I ever knew to devote so much time just for the hopes of contacting me.

On the monitor they can see Amy wave to someone. Malcolm runs up to her and they put their arms around each other. He plants a little kiss on her cheek.

Karl- Oh My God!

Essie- Guess she didn't come to see you after all, Casper.

Karl- How long has this been going on?

Essie- Probably all summer, she did seem to like him when she was here the last time.

Karl- But she can't date him! He's a geek and she's, she's... a Todman. She's way out of his league.

Essie rolls her eyes.

Merrill- At least they seem to be happy. And look on the bright side. You'll get to see her from time to time without worrying that she's still grieving over you.

Karl gets up to leave but looks back at the monitor again.

Karl- And you know what? I still miss that jacket.

Later that night. Marty is sitting alone in the study. Dillan walks in looking worried about something.

Dillan- Marty. Can I ask you about something?

Marty- Sure, red. Shoot.

Dillan- I've been talking to Merrill. She told me about what you said after the attack. Do you still think I'd be better off dead?

Marty- Truthfully, yes. Every one of us has been through things that nobody should have to. Even Karl who's just reaching two years as a vampire almost lost himself in the darkness. It may not seem so bad to you now but someday you'll wish we had let you die.

Dillan is speecheless for a moment. She seems to be trying to decide whether to say what's on her mind.

Dillan- You don't have to wait for someday. It's already happened.

Marty's usual light-hearted demeanor disappears instantly.

Dillan- Before Karl came for me, I... I killed someone.

Marty is about to say something but she holds up her hand to stop him.

Dillan- I started sleepwalking, I'd wake up miles away from my apartment, cold and confused. One time I woke up to find myself chasing a woman. I have no idea who she was or where I found her. (She chokes back a sob.) She tripped and the next thing I knew I was on her. And... I just couldn't stop myself. I drained her until her blood ran cold.

Dillan starts to cry intensely. Marty gets up and holds her.

Dillan- Now I know why vampires don't cast a reflection. How could any of us look at ourselves in the mirror?

Murdoch writing in his journal again.

Murdoch(V.O.)- I'm glad to have all my students back and not much worse for the wear. I can only pray that this year will bring forth greater successes than the last and less of the failures. But I fear that neither the day students nor the vampires are prepared for the new challenges they'll undoubtedly face before we have a chance at another summer vacation. 


End file.
